Document Type

Thesis - University Access Only

Award Date

2009

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department / School

English

First Advisor

Kathleen Danker

Abstract

Jean Stafford's critics regularly analyze her treatment of children, orphans, innocence, loneliness, estrangement, and homelessness using a variety of her fiction. Stafford's use of silence, on the other hand, has received significantly less attention. Additionally, there has been little focus specifically on her fiction set in the American West. Accordingly, this study indicates how the silence of Stafford's Western female protagonists symbolizes powerlessness and subjugation, a stark contrast to traditionally male-centered Westerns that use silence as a symbol of stoic strength. In The Mountain Lion, "Bad Characters," "A Reading Problem," "The Philosophy Lesson," "In the Zoo," "The Liberation," and "The Healthiest Girl in Town," Stafford's female protagonists in the West, for the most part, lose their optimism and self-confidence as a result of being silenced. Above all, Stafford's use of silence illustrates language's power. Without language-without a voice-hope shrivels. With a voice, strength prevails.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Stafford, Jean, 1915-1979 -- Characters -- Women
Stafford, Jean, 1915-1979 -- Criticism and interpretation
Women in literature
Silence in literature
American fiction --  West (U.S.) -- History and criticism

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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Rights Statement

In Copyright